Google Music Finally Becomes Useful In the UK and Takes On iTunes Match Head-On

Well, here's a turn up for the books. Finally, something useful for the UK out of Google Music. Starting November 13th, Google Music will officially launch in the UK, complete with a 'Scan and Match' feature that matches tracks in your library with Google's database letting you stream them to your Android phone or tablet, just like Apple's iTunes Match.

In fact, this is a direct competitor to Apple's service, setting up a new front in the Google-Apple war. The beauty of Google Music is that it's free for up to 20,000 tracks, where as Apple charges you £22 a year for the privilege.

You'll also be able to buy MP3s from Google Play for an undisclosed sum, probably 99p, and share music with your friends through Google+. Song 'recommendations' allow people to listen to the complete track once on Google+ before being forced to buy it to continue listening.

Having used a US Google Music account to stream tracks to various Android devices over the last year, I can say it works great. The scan and match feature will be a massive boon too, as before you had to upload every track to the service, which took forever for big music libraries. Not a bad service considering it's free. [TechRadar]